By DAYELIN ROMAN Staff writer

Updated 9:47 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011

GREENWICH -- A woman who set off a state investigation when she accused an employee at a Washington County facility of using a cattle prod on a disabled resident was arrested Friday after police said she made up her story.

Allison Baranski, 23, was charged with making a false written statement, a misdemeanor, stemming from allegations that surfaced in July, sheriff's deputies said.

The state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities investigated the allegations after Baranski, an employee at the office's Arlington House facility near Cambridge, came forward, and the employee in question was put on administrative leave.

The disabled victim the investigation centered around is unable to speak for himself to relate what might have happened, and no cattle prod was found.

The allegations surfaced soon after Gov. Andrew Cuomo's appointment of new OPWDD Commissioner Courtney Burke and also following a series of scathing articles about the agency published in The New York Times. Burke pledged to crack down on abuse and neglect cases in the agency, which employs about 23,000 people statewide in scores of group homes and other facilities for the developmentally disabled.

"I am disappointed this investigation caused disruption to the lives of the individuals residing in that home, and was a considerable drain on resources that would have been better spent investigating real cases," Burke said in a statement Saturday. "But we take every allegation very seriously, and our strengthened investigations process and agreement with State Police resulted in a definitive outcome."

Baranski is due to appear Nov. 8 in Greenwich Town Court to answer an appearance ticket.